The cycle of help is one that often alludes us. We know how to give help, but do we know the power of asking for help to transform our lives and others? I will share the research that went into my workbook as well as all that I have personally experienced by learning how to ask for help in a healthy and balanced way.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Quite the adventure I am on. I have worked on this dream for years. As it comes to life, I am feeling floods of emotions that are all part of this adventure and part of being willing to speak the truth.

I remember when I decided to actually work on this book, Kevin Carroll, Author and Catalyst, asked me, "What needs to be said?" Those words of wisdom echo through my head every time I become fearful.

What needs to be said is asking for help is HARD! Everything about it! Admitting it, understanding it, saying the words...ALL of it!!

When I remember why I actually decided to go on this adventure, it all becomes clear. I am passionate about people getting the help they need and giving the help they can!!

Getting an experience together like this requires such tenacity of spirit, mind and body, that sometimes I get so tired, that I forget this is all about asking for help... and I forget to...hee hee

I know that all the emotions I am living through right now are part of "WHAT needs to be SAID!"

Yes, there are people I am disappointed in... Yes, I had expectations... and as much as I know I need to let go of them...it is part of this whole conversation that needs to be spoken about...

So should I not expect anything?? What is a relationship about if you cannot count on someone?? What are realistic expectation, are there such things?? These are the conversations we need to be having with each other as we build strong healthy relationships...

Sometimes relationships are one sided. We all know that...sometimes you are the one giving, sometimes the one receiving and every once in a while it is truly reciprocal...

Saturday, June 26, 2010

This hug illustrates Bernie’s joy of loving others! If ya want joy, Bernie will shower you with it!

B is for Bright Bernie Beaumont, one of the people who continue to teach me about "Who's Helping Who?" Read about his generosity and JOY!

I met Bernie a year ago and was blessed by an immediate friendship that blossomed within hours of wonderful conversations about the power of God.

Bernie you see, is a carrier of buckets of joy, free to anyone who has the desire to be filled by them. His delightful humor fills the room easily. When he laughs, it is with his every cell. Not your typical guy!

Bernie was diagnosed with a form of terminal prostate cancer. Intuitively he knew the cure lied within. He went on a quest. He learned about energy medicine and has not stopped learning ever since. He sought alternative doctors, healers and spiritual guides throughout the world. As he journeyed and opened himself to new ideas, he realized what actually needed healing was his SPIRIT. He came to understand that if he opened himself to his spirit being healed, his body would be too.

Bernie, like many of us grew up with trials and tribulations, had failed relationships and the usual malaise with unfulfilling jobs. As he sought answers to his illness, he found that the scars made by these emotional experiences were the culprit for his physical ailment. He allowed the hurts to be healed, which he knows cured his cancer.

An avid learner, he seeks ways to keep his mind, body and spirit vibrant. He shares his wisdom in a respectful way and creates joy abundantly.

Bernie has helped me heal my spirit. He has shown me to love myself unconditionally and has inspired me to seek God in ways that astound and ignite my spirit. We laugh, cry, explore, pray and evolve in God together. His nurturing heart has helped me accept my worthiness and fuels my quest to help others feel theirs. I am blessed to call him friend.

Agreed, it is not science or faith, it is faith is science, science is faith. At the core of each of the lies several commonalities from my view. Both have the element of theory and the quest to prove it be it in the physical world or the metaphysical world.

Our desire as humans to "explain" things holds together both the pursuits of science and faith. We desire to KNOW, to somehow use logic to make sense of things, yet as we explore deeper, more to explore is revealed.

Logic and reason seemingly flies in the face of faith. There is not a single scientist, engineer or mathematician I know that, once they have a theory, a sense of FAITH that it is provable, kicks in.

Theory by nature evokes the unknown. It is an idea that as some deep level of our being we KNOW to be true. The quest to prove it drive us to madness sometimes. Many times I have had an idea about how to achieve something, that has never been done. Have found myself saying , "I just KNOW it." Beyond logic or reason, our deepest intuitive thoughts are fed by the collection of our experiences that we have not consciously internalized the lessons of.

We move through our days, layering knowledge upon knowledge, to bring us to a place of knowing, without ever consciously seeking the knowing. This layering of knowing informs our faith in things, people, the world.Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Thursday, June 24, 2010

4:30 am, I sit in my safe warm bed in the home of Angie. I am filled with gratitude for God’s infinite grace to bring me here. I met Angie nine months ago. These nine months have revealed: God moves to inspire purpose, hope and love.

I met Angie through a friend. Looking for a new home after I had spent several months with friends becoming healthy after a hospital visit, I was ready to move forward with my life. Angie had recently divorced and open to sharing her home.

We set a time to meet. We shared what had brought us both to this moment. We found a connection: hope and a desire to create anew.

When I went to pick up the key and make moving arrangements, we shared a bit more. It turned out we share many experiences that are similar, namely divorce and the desire to know what our purpose is. We both recently overcame illness and the darkness of depression that came with it. We are both on the mend physically, emotionally and spiritually.

These months have been filled with a gentle healing for both of us. We laugh, cry, work, play and often collapse in weariness. I have witnessed a woman whos love of life fills a room, yet is recreating herself, with the courage of a lion. She opens herself to the world and is exploring herself with a new sense of worthiness and wonder.

As I financially struggle to launch my book, her unbounded generosity has taught me that I matter. We continue to struggle with our purpose, yet we both instincually know we are here in this moment to love each other to newness.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

My 300 word project will profile people who have helped me do something, learn something or affected my beliefs.

I’m in the process of launching a book called “Who’s Helping Who?” It is a book about the cycle of giving and receiving. I have worked on it for over four years. I have learned about myself, the world and my sense of the divine.

Through my work, I explore the affect of receiving and giving help and how people feel about their sense of self worth through it. I have interviewed over 200 people to come to this sense of calrity

I asked three questions to every participant.

Who do you give help to?

Who do you ask for help from?

What is the hardest thing you ever asked for help with?

Amazing conversations revealed the depths of spirit. It was an honor to bear witness to the truth of lives. I had the opportunity to see and feel such a vast range of emotions with each person. During each and every conversation, the topic of worthiness arose. We experienced the joy of giving, the shame of asking and the surrender to feeling their own sense of worth.

This journey has brought a vast range of adventures. I’ve had the chance to fully experience the cycle in ways I could’ve never anticipated. I have been helped to live through massive weight loss, an abusive marriage, a life threatening illness, suicidal depression, the death of a loved one and financial havoc.

Through this, I have helped save marriages, bring businesses to the next level, supported recovery from addiction and watched people blossom because they saw me asking for help as I gave it.

The stories I shall tell will reveal creativity, love, courage, compassion and joy!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

& 3. Launch a Global Book Tour. YUP have the nerve to say that one out loud! Already in conversations with buds in Birmingham, Boston & Chicago.

The results:

More people will ask for help with:

• Depression

• Creativity

• Suicidal Thoughts

• Relationships

• Addictions

• Personal Growth

• Finances

& Spiritual Evolution.

I decided long ago that, if I were to write about the cycle of giving and receiving help, I best be able to walk my talk. I could not do this book alone, it has been a massively collaborative effort. Literally hundreds of people from all over the world have helped me create the stories, supported me financially, spiritually, emotionally and most importantly, helped me garner the courage to bring this work to life.

I initially created the workbook several years ago and then became seriously ill, physically, emotionally and spiritually. It was put on the shelf and what I realized is that I had to learn the next level of asking for help. Literally had to ask for help to stay alive. I tell ya, it makes the kind of asking I am about to do, seem like a piece of cake.

So this is the beginning of a a few months of bold faced asking for help. I know these things happen in phases and really want to collaborate with my posse to bring it to life. The bestest and funnest things in my life have been done with others, so naturally this biggest event of my life should be done with you!

If you would like to collaborate on bringing the dream of "Who's Helping Who?" to life here are a few things I need help with over the next weeks and months. There will be more asks, I promise!!

1. Look in your junk drawers. Need small objects the size of a marble/quarter for the installation. Anything, buttons, machine pieces, toys, etc...They will be part of the interaction during the month long installation. Please call me and I will come pick up objects if you are local or mail to me by June 25th.

Florence Haridan

247 Lobelia Road

St. Augustine, FL 32086

2. Write a short passage about how you helped me and or how I helped you. OR Raise your hand to be interviewed and taped for pod casting.

This passage will be added to the blog as part of the back stories of the the book. Many of you have been formally interviewed for the book and others have contributed in other ways in my life. Please share. I need you once again... Or I have helped you in some way. Big or small, each exchange of help changes our lives...email it to me at florence@gathernow.com or post it here.

3. Help me find locations to install the interactive experience.

If you are part of a club, organization or church and would love to bring a fun experience to them, I have created the installation to be movable. I have a formal description of the installation that I can share with you, so you have something to speak to your connections about. Call me, 904-612-3934

4. Sponsor the installation of the interactive experience.

Estimated cost to take it on the road locally is about $200. To take it to your city... $300 + the cost of a flight and a hotel. A great way for your business to gain exposure. Bringing the message of the cycle of help is a message any business/organization can be part of. Your company/Org name will be recognized as a sponsor!

5. Open a door to a publisher.

I have initially self published with all the confidence that a publisher is waiting for this ground breaking topic! I have the book out for first reads and will have some great quotes from other authors soon!! Call 904-612-3934 to share...

And last, but surly not least...

6. Prayer...

That I continue to have the courage to talk about this important and potentially life saving topic. Over the coming months, I shall share my personal challenges with asking for help, as well as interview others. I pray that we are able to share of ourselves so our victories may inspire others. Please also pray that I stay focused and have the self love to care for myself fully through this adventure. Please email me florence@gathernow.com or share here...

About Me

I am the Executive Director of Character Counts! in Jacksonville. I am also a business and life coach who is focused on helping creative teams and individuals have more productive and efficient lives. I support others to explore the development and evolution of personal character. I work with creatives of all types and love the whole of the work that I do. I have a blast watching creative people of all kinds have huge shifts in perspective that allows them to amazing levels of creative expression.
Another area I love to coach is the development of or deepening of a spiritual practice. This includes bringing your beliefs to work with you as well as the creation of habits and practices that allow for connection to the divine.